Roofing & exteriors in South Hackensack, NJ
South Hackensack is a township of about 2,700 people in three separate pieces. Most of its land is warehousing and industry along Route 46 and in the Meadowlands; the houses sit on a small grid between Hackensack and the river. The ground is flat, about 13 feet above sea level, so roofs, gutters and downspouts here have one job before any other: getting water away from the house.
South Hackensack is what was left of Lodi Township in 1935, after every borough around it had taken the parts it wanted, and the map still shows it. The main residential section sits beside Hackensack, Little Ferry and Teterboro, with the Hackensack River on its eastern edge, Interstate 80 across the middle and Route 46 along the southern border. Garfield Park is a small enclave to the west, and the third piece, in the Meadowlands, is entirely industrial. Only 0.72 square miles of land, most of it not houses.
The houses that are here sit on small lots on a flat grid around Main Street, Central Boulevard, Phillips Avenue and Dyer Avenue. A tidal river runs along one side, with highway and logistics yards on the others. Flat, low ground changes the order of priorities on an exterior: water that comes off a roof does not run away, it sits where the downspout puts it.
We work across the county from our Edgewater base, and in South Hackensack that means shingle and low-slope membrane roofing, leak repair, siding, window and door replacement, gutters routed for the lot, and decks. Every estimate is written, with photographs and named materials.
What changes how we build in South Hackensack
Thirteen feet above sea level
The township sits about 13 feet above sea level, with a tidal river along the eastern edge of the main section. Roof water has to be carried, not dropped. We check where every downspout discharges before we quote a roof, and extend leaders to daylight or a splash point well clear of the foundation.
Wind across open ground
Between the river, the highway and the flats beyond Route 46, there is little to break the wind before it reaches a roof edge. We install shingles to the manufacturer's high-wind nailing pattern with a sealed starter course at eaves and rakes, and fully adhere low-slope membranes, because the edge is where a roof begins to lift.
Small lots, close neighbors
On a tight grid the next house is a few feet away, which makes staging and debris control part of the plan. It also puts side walls in the splash zone of the neighbor's roof, so we look hard at kick-out flashing and the bottom courses of siding on the narrow side.
Highway and industry at the door
Diesel film from two highways dulls light siding, and road grit settles in gutters along with the leaves. We recommend a yearly gutter clean and roof look-over, and specify siding that washes down rather than absorbs.
What this housing stock actually needs
Roofing for pitched and flat sections
Architectural shingle with a high wind rating on the main roofs, ice-and-water membrane at eaves, valleys and every wall junction, and fully adhered EPDM or TPO on any low-pitch section. Leak repair starts with finding the source, usually a wall junction or a plumbing stack. See where North Jersey roofs actually leak.
Gutters routed for flat ground
Seamless aluminum sized to the roof area, six-inch where the roof plane is large or steep, downspouts placed where the water really collects, leaders extended to daylight. On ground this low, the last ten feet of the downspout run matter as much as the gutter itself.
Siding and windows for a working street
Fiber cement or quality vinyl over a proper drainage plane, with a full flashing kit at every opening. Window replacement is priced both ways, insert and full-frame, and we tell you which the existing frames can take. A storm door on the street side takes the weather so the entry door does not have to.
Decks on small yards
Composite or pressure-treated decking framed for a compact backyard, the ledger flashed and through-bolted to the house rather than nailed, footings set for soft, low ground. A deck that meets the house badly is a leak in disguise.
Flat ground, open wind, water with nowhere to go.
The towns of South Bergen and the Meadowlands share low elevation, small lots and a lot of highway. An exterior here is judged on drainage first: gutters that match the roof, leaders that reach daylight, flashing that assumes wind-driven rain from any side.
Streets and sections we work in South Hackensack
ZIP code served: 07606.
- Main Street and Central Boulevard — the core of the residential grid beside Hackensack, small-lot houses close to each other.
- Phillips Avenue and Veterans Park — the township's park and the houses around it.
- Dyer Avenue and Memorial School — the streets around the township's pre-K-through-8 school.
- The river edge along County Route 503 — the eastern side of the main section, where the houses are closest to the Hackensack River.
- Garfield Park — the small western enclave between Garfield, Lodi, Wallington and Wood-Ridge.
- Route 46 and the Meadowlands section — commercial and industrial buildings, where we take on low-slope membrane roofing.
South Hackensack response, anywhere in 07606. Call (201) 446-5941 or request a free written estimate online.
Adjacent Bergen towns
Does Johannemann & Sons serve South Hackensack, NJ?
Yes — all of 07606, in all three pieces of the township. That covers the main residential section beside Hackensack, Little Ferry and Teterboro, the Garfield Park enclave to the west, and the low-slope commercial roofs along Route 46 and in the Meadowlands section. We work across the county from our Edgewater base. Here that means shingle and membrane roofing, leak repair, siding, window and door replacement, gutters routed to carry water clear of a small lot, and decks.
We sit about 13 feet above sea level with the river a few blocks away. What does that change about gutters?
Almost everything. On a hillside lot, water that leaves a downspout keeps moving; on flat ground this low it pools where it lands, often against your foundation. So we size the gutters to the actual roof area and put downspouts where the roof planes really drain. Then we extend every leader to a point where the water can get away: a splash block, a buried line to daylight, or at minimum well past the footing. That extension is the part of the job that protects the house.
My house has a low-pitch section at the back. Can it just get shingles like the rest?
Not below a 3-in-12 pitch. Shingles shed water; they do not hold it, and a flat section on low, open ground holds water after every rain. That area gets a membrane — fully adhered EPDM or TPO — with tapered insulation so it drains to a scupper or gutter instead of ponding, and metal edge secured for wind. Where the low roof meets the main house, we run the membrane up the wall and counter-flash it, because that seam is where these roofs leak.
Roofing for the homes of South Hackensack, NJ.
A free written estimate with photographs and named materials, from a Bergen County exterior crew that knows what low ground asks of a roof.